Upset BAI to issue showcause notice to Jwala

Controversy and G. Jwala have frequently walked hand-in-hand.

The last few weeks alone will vouch for that. But now, the Badminton Association of India has decided to act against the doubles star, a former world championship bronze medallist and Commonwealth Games gold winner.

The Krrish Delhi Smashers star had threatened to pull out of her team in the Indian Badminton League match against home side Banga Beats in Bangalore last week over a player replacement, and this has upset the BAI very much.

“We are going to deal with that; she had intervened and stopped some of the players from playing one particular tie against Banga Beats,” S. Muralidharan, chairman of BAI’s disciplinary committee, told

The Hindu on Sunday evening.

“So, the whole TV coverage was cut for half an hour. This is too much. Definitely, there will be some action against her.”

Walkout threat

Delhi Smashers was upset that the IBL governing council had allowed Banga Beats to replace its injured singles player, Hong Kong’s Hu Yun, with Denmark’s Jan Jorgensen at the 11th hour.

The Smashers had even threatened to forfeit the tie in protest.

The match only began after the Beats decided to leave out the Dane and field Arvind Bhat, who was part of the team.

“There is a provision for player change,” explained Muralidharan, who is also the vice-president of BAI and secretary of the Kerala Badminton Association.

He said the act upset ESPN-Star Sports , which had the rights for the event.

“With great difficulty, we managed to get the (telecast) agreement and they ( Star Sports ) threatened us that they were not going to cover anything more…it had come to that stage.

“It’s good that nothing untoward happened.”

Regarding action against Jwala, he said, “First, we will issue a showcause (notice) and based on her reply, action will be taken.”

He said that the BAI had discussed the issue at its meeting in Mumbai recently.

It is also learnt that the BAI has withdrawn Jwala from the Indian team which will play in the Japan Open Super Series event in Tokyo from September 17.

Protest

Jwala had earlier blasted the IBL organisers soon after the players’ auction when she found that her base price had been cut by half, from $50,000 to $25,000.

She was also very upset that women’s doubles had been dropped from the event.

Also, midway through the league, she had criticised Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal on Twitter over her comments on Indonesia’s former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat.